Hong Kong Olympic Equestrienne Samantha Lam Meets The Media

6 June 2008

Samantha Lam, the first of Hong Kong's Olympic equestrian team to come back to Hong Kong since qualifying for the Games, met with the media and relayed the excitement and significance of being part of Hong Kong's first-ever Olympic equestrian team.

"We want to do Hong Kong proud," Lam said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me and my team mates," Lam told a crowd of reporters at the Club's Happy Valley Racecourse. "To ride in the Olympic Games has been a lifelong quest for me, my family, my parents and my extended family. Having the Hong Kong Jockey Club sponsoring and funding our squad brings me one step closer to that dream."

The combination of Hong Kong's Olympic co-host city status and Hong Kong having its first-ever Jumping team qualified for the Games has meant that Lam and her fellow Hong Kong Jockey Club-sponsored team members are in the spotlight.

Lam, who has qualified for August's Olympic Equestrian Events with two horses, Jockey Club Tresor and her "back up", the family owned Coco, recalled the first time she sat on Jockey Club Tresor. "It was love at first sit", she joked, "a real chemistry and an immediate connection." The food-loving, slightly chubby horse has earned the nickname "Fatty," an endearing name that's commonly applied to food-loving, plump Hong Kong natives too. "I'm very thankful to the Hong Kong Jockey Club for buying Fatty for me."

Lam returns to Belgium tomorrow to continue training and will jump in a couple more shows before taking the horses to the beach for some R&R before the Games. "The salt water is good for their legs, joints and tendons, and the air's very good for their lungs," Lam said. "We'll be galloping along the water's edge."

"I hope we can become trailblazers for show jumping and equestrian sports in Hong Kong and mainland China", said Lam. The 29-year-old, who coaches younger riders, said eventually she would like to teach in Hong Kong or to invite riders to Europe to train with her. "And I would love to see a five-star international competition in Hong Kong too", she said.

Lam and fellow Hong Kong Olympic equestrian team members Kenneth Cheng, Jennifer Lee and Patrick Lam (no relation to Samantha) will return to Hong Kong at the beginning of August.